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Moules Chaudes

In the waters off Prince Edward Island and along the Nova Scotia shore, the blue mussel is everyday luxury. This kitchen is devoted to cooking it well: briefly, simply, and served hot from the pot.

Mussels ask very little and give a great deal. A handful of shallots, a glass of wine or cider, a lid, and a few minutes at a lively steam are enough. The work is in the buying and the timing, not in the decoration of the plate.

Recipes

Three reliable ways to cook Maritime mussels. Each recipe is written for a pot at home, with notes on the local ingredients that suit them.

Buying and keeping mussels

Look for farmed blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia. Rope-grown mussels arrive clean, of even size, and with very little grit. The shells should feel heavy for their size and be tightly closed, or close firmly when tapped.

Keep them cold, in a bowl in the refrigerator, covered with a damp clean cloth. Do not seal them in a plastic bag and do not store them under water; they are living animals and need to breathe. Cook them the day you buy them if you can, and within two days at the latest.

Just before cooking, rinse them under cold water and pull away the beard — the tough threads by which the mussel held to the rope — with a firm tug toward the hinge. Discard any with broken shells, and any that stay open after a tap. After cooking, discard any that have remained tightly shut.